President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday for the first time in several weeks as the Middle East teeters on the brink of an all-out conflict.
The two leaders have a relationship dating back decades, but it has strained over the course of the last year, since Hamas carried out the largest terrorist attack in Israel’s history. Their call, the first between them since August, comes as Israel is weighing how it should retaliate for Iran’s massive ballistic barrage targeting Israel last week.
“The President affirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” a White House readout of the call said. “He condemned unequivocally Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1st. … The President affirmed Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee, was also a part of the call.
Biden has frequently urged Israel to do more to minimize civilian harm in Gaza and has reiterated that call now for Israel’s operations in Lebanon as the death toll mounts.
Israel has not yet responded to Iran’s attack, and more hawkish officials have discussed the possibility of targeting Iran’s nuclear program and oil facilities, which would likely incur an Iranian response, though they could hit less significant military targets that may not garner a response.
Biden has already publicly said he would not support Israel going after Iran’s nuclear program, though he has affirmed Israel’s right to retaliate for the missile attack.
While deliberating on how to respond to Iran’s attack, Israeli forces are continuing operations in Gaza against Hamas and in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah. Israel has largely turned its attention toward the threat from Hezbollah since the start of September.
Israeli forces have conducted what it describes as small localized ground incursions into southern Lebanon, which the U.S. State Department supports. Israel’s operations have not yet stopped Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel.
“Yes, we do support Israel launching these incursions to degrade Hezbollah’s infrastructure,” spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday, hours after a senior Hezbollah leader publicly shared support for the Lebanese government’s efforts to get a ceasefire agreement completed, though it also occurred in the midst of Hezbollah rocket fire targeting northern Israel.
“So for a year, you had the world calling for this ceasefire, you had Hezbollah refusing to agree to one, and now that Hezbollah is on the back foot and is getting battered, suddenly they’ve changed their tune and want a ceasefire,” Miller added. “I think it’s not surprising given the situation they find themselves in. We continue to ultimately want a diplomatic solution to this conflict.”
The Biden administration, over the course of the last year, has prioritized trying to contain the conflict and avoid a regional war that could pull the U.S. in but has had limited success in doing so. Israel, at times, has carried out attacks that went counter to the U.S.’s goal of avoiding a larger war, creating friction with its allies.
The depths of the fracture between Biden and Netanyahu was further illuminated with the release of veteran Washington reporter Bob Woodward’s new book.
“That son of a b****, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad f***ing guy!” Biden declared privately about Netanyahu to one of his associates in the spring of 2024 as Israel’s war in Gaza intensified, Woodward wrote.
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Biden, for his part, spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday, the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack that prompted the war, but not Netanyahu.
Former President Donald Trump recently spoke with Netanyahu as well, who called and “congratulated him on the intense and determined operations that Israel carried out against Hezbollah,” according to Netanyahu’s office.
